A celebration of Finnish craft, design and architecture, along with a short trip to discover the emerging 21st Century Estonian craft movement rooted in traditions .

Tuesday 22 May - Wednesday 30 May 2018

This tour is designed to celebrate the best of Finnish art and design by visiting the studios and homes of the most esteemed designers, craftsmen and architects, both past and present. Among them, the architects, Ilmari Tapiovaara, Alvar Aalto, Eliel Saarinen, studio potter Erna Kaarina Aaltonen and, the workspace of Finland’s famous master cabinetmaker, designer Kari Virtanen and founder of Nikari, a company making sustainable wooden furniture. Additionally, as the Baltic country of Estonia continues to shake off its soviet legacy and emerge with a truly 21st century vibe, we will visit the leading museums in Tallinn and Tartu, as well as visit the lesser-known studios of craft artists and designers who capture the present-day design and technology led art scene.

We have created an itinerary that will provide you with a unique window into Finland as a design powerhouse. The journey takes you to he famed cooperative of Fiskars – home to over 120 artists, the former Arabia Studios in Helsinki, and a private tour of Arabia’s newly opened museum featuring Finland’s most celebrated design brands including Iittalia. Private visits to the makers’ workshops have been arranged, and there will be opportunities to purchase works directly from the artists in their studios. Alongside these visits, you’ll go behind the scenes at the Finnish Design Museum –one of the best of it’s kind.

Leaving Helsinki we will make our way to Jyvaksyla to see Alvar Aalto’s Experimental House, Säynätsalo town hall – one of his most significant works, and his Muurame Church. The Aalto journey will continue tos to Villa Mairea, a rural private retreat built for the Gullichsen family in mesmerizing natural surrounds.

Onwards across the Baltic Sea we make our way to medieval capital of Tallinn to the Estonian Museum of Applied Art & Design, and then spend a day in Tartu to see the famed Estonian National Museum. Along the way we hope to visit the makers studios.

While in Helsinki home will be the chic boutique Hotel F6, while lunches and dinners will be held in some of the best of the burgeoning new restaurant scene – including Ora and Aalto designed Savoy restaurant. Near Villa Mairea you will have the opportunity to stay in Villa Aalto designed by the master himself and is part of the Kautuua Club with the prize winning Ahlström restaurant serving local produce from the forest and nearby lake. In Tallinn you will stay at Telegraaf Hotel where you will find endless gastronomic adventures, not to be missed.

Come join Flow Gallery owner Yvonna Demczynska, and museum voyager Cathy Giangrande to discover for yourself why Finnish design is held in such high regard and continues to be revered and how Estonia is evolving to become a country with a contemporary applied scene to watch!